In Cherkasy region, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have blocked five new schemes for evading mobilisation and detained the organisers.

For sums of up to USD 17,000 they offered men the opportunity to evade conscription and flee abroad using fake documents.

In Uman, the deputy dean and head of a department at a local university were exposed for accepting bribes to enroll draft dodgers in master’s programs.

The ‘students’ did not take entrance exams and, after being admitted to the university, did not even show up at the institution.

In Cherkasy, a lawyer has been apprehended for arranging fictitious marriages for conscripts with guardianship over persons with disabilities in order to evade mobilisation.

A former employee of the city’s Territorial Recruitment Centre was detained for ‘removing’ draft dodgers from the wanted list. To do this, he used his connections in the military enlistment office where he had previously served.

In Cherkasy district, two more suspects were detained, one of whom sold fake medical certificates of ‘poor health’. He enlisted the help of several doctors he knew to forge the documents.

Another perpetrator sold fake disability certificates, which she ‘stamped’ through her personal connections in local medical institutions.

All the detainees have been notified of suspicion under several Articles of the CCU:

• 332.3 (illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
• 369-2.2, 369-2.3 (abuse of influence).

The suspects face up to 9 years in prison with confiscation of property. The investigation is ongoing.

The operations were carried out by the SSU Office in Cherkasy region jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutors’ Offices.